Four-star OG Chris Murray plans first Pac-12 trip

THE LATEST: Chris Murray will almost certainly take more official visits but the four-star offensive guard has scheduled his first one.

The Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei standout has not finalized the date yet but Murray is planning to take a trip to Utah and the biggest reason is because the Utes’ coaching staff has been involved with him all the way through his recruitment.

Murray has seen things take off in the last few weeks – with offers from Notre Dame, Stanford and others – but the four-star doesn’t seem to be forgetting about the schools that were involved early on.

So far, the Mater Dei recruit has landed offers from Arizona, Cal, Colorado, Colorado State, Illinois, Iowa State, Louisville, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Stanford, TCU, Texas Tech, UCLA, Utah, Vanderbilt, Washington and Washington State.

IN HIS WORDS: “Just Utah as of right now. I have to double check the date but it's during my bye week, and they have been there since the beginning of my recruiting when I was still under the radar. They are one of the schools that have shown the most love and have recruited me very heavy. Me and coach (Jim) Harding have a very good relationship and I want to get up there and visit because of that connection.”

RIVALS’ REACTION: Taking a visit to Utah could be huge for Murray and the Utes especially if he loves his trip to Salt Lake City. But there is going to be plenty of competition to land his commitment.

It’s expected Murray is going to visit Notre Dame at some point because he loves the culture there – he feels it’s similar to Mater Dei in many ways – and a Stanford trip would be expected as well.

But it’s a really positive sign for Utah that the four-star offensive guard is planning that trip first. He definitely appreciates the coaching staff staying involved with him before many other top programs got involved and it doesn’t seem like Murray is going to forget it.